Imac screen calibration

[Steve DiMaggio]

I decided that I could no longer wait and got maxed out imac coming. What is a good calibration kit?

steve

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

No one?

steve

 

[Mike Nagel]

U cannot properly cal that screen... Gotta use the viewing LUT feature of ur grading app to apply a calibration LUT... But obviously, that screen is not Pro grade

 

[Terry VerHaar]

I decided that I could no longer wait and got maxed out imac coming. What is a good calibration kit?

steve

Might take a look at this. I have had good results.

http://spyder.datacolor.com/portfolio-view/spyder5elite/

 

[Steve Sherrick]

U cannot properly cal that screen... Gotta use the viewing LUT feature of ur grading app to apply a calibration LUT... But obviously, that screen is not Pro grade

That's what I've done. You can do this with DispCal and a decent probe (i1DP3 and i1 Pro on the low end). Works reasonably well, but Steve ultimately I think you will prefer to be grading on a better display such as a Flanders or similar. The advantage of Flanders is that you can send it in for calibration and just pay for shipping. And they have ability to store calibration LUTs.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

U cannot properly cal that screen... Gotta use the viewing LUT feature of ur grading app to apply a calibration LUT... But obviously, that screen is not Pro grade

I dont need pro grade I just need better than stock, no sense in going overboard on stuff that will be viewed on cell phones and ipads

steve

 

[Steve Sherrick]

I dont need pro grade I just need better than stock, no sense in going overboard on stuff that will be viewed on cell phones and ipads

steve

But this will drive you crazy if you don't know if your work is accurate or not. What happens down stream is out of your control. But at least you can say it looks correct coming out of your edit suite.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

But this will drive you crazy if you don't know if your work is accurate or not. What happens down stream is out of your control. But at least you can say it looks correct coming out of your edit suite.

I am not sweating it, I will always be the one editing and grading, I just want to get the most out of the imac screen.

steve

 

[Steve Sherrick]

DisplayCal is free. i1DP3 and i1Pro combo is around $1200. You can get a Flanders LCD for $2500, OLED for $6K. Not pennies but will give you piece of mind. Or just rent one when you have a critical project that you need to make sure looks right.

 

[Steve Sherrick]

I am not sweating it, I will never be in a position in my business where someone else would be handling my footage, it is just not what I do.

steve

Fair enough. As long as client is happy, that's all that matters in the end.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

Fair enough. As long as client is happy, that's all that matters in the end.

yeah I work in quick turn around event films, very little corporate and absolutely no creative. When I have worked (dp) on creative we always used a real panasonic monitor and sent out for grading, just not my cup of tea, I guess my attention span is too small haha

steve

 

[Jon Dishler]

Slightly off topic but I have been considering this new to be released LG monitor http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32UD99-W-4k-uhd-led-monitor that does HDR 10 and DCI-P3 95% (CIE 1976) Color Gamut and is $999 at B&H. I can use the UHD with my "trashcan" from apple, as opposed to buying a new imac since my apple display is going bad. I realize there are other options, but this seems like it might be a good choice, particularly since it does HDR. I wonder if the Spyder could calibrate it reasonably?

 

[Tom Gleeson]

I have used the new IMacs whilst grading usually with a Sony OLED 17'' attached and I have been impressed when comparing the colour accuracy of the IMac without any calibration. The Apple panels are very good in terms of their colour accuracy. BUT its in the rendition of blacks that the IMacs differ from a Broadcast monitor. The Apple tends to crush the very bottom of the luminance scale. If your market is mobile and computer screens this may be OK but if your market is Broadcast you end up with washed out shadows.

 

[Marc Wielage]

I dont need pro grade I just need better than stock, no sense in going overboard on stuff that will be viewed on cell phones and ipads...

If that's true, then why grade at all? Why not let it just go out and look mediocre?

There are ways of color-correcting at an affordable level, even with a calibrated display, without spending thousands of dollars. This is kind of like buying a boat: you can buy a $10 million yacht, or you can buy a $50,000 speedboat. In this case, a $39 rowboat ain't gonna get you far. If this is being released to the public and is a commercial (non-amateur) production that somebody is paying form, it deserves at least a minimal level of quality and expertise.

And the name of your company is ColorRoomFilms? :001_unsure:

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

If that's true, then why grade at all? Why not let it just go out and look mediocre?

There are ways of color-correcting at an affordable level, even with a calibrated display, without spending thousands of dollars. This is kind of like buying a boat: you can buy a $10 million yacht, or you can buy a $50,000 speedboat. In this case, a $39 rowboat ain't gonna get you far. If this is being released to the public and is a commercial (non-amateur) production that somebody is paying form, it deserves at least a minimal level of quality and expertise.

And the name of your company is ColorRoomFilms? :001_unsure:

It was kind of in jest. Same type of joke I heard a million times when building recording studios, we put all this effort into getting the best sound possible, then someone crushes it to a mp3 and listens on apple head phones

When I mean overboard, I mean, buying a $6K monitor when my skills are not on that level, if I had anything at that level I would send it out to be colored.

It should be noted that I have been editing on a 15" MBP Retina, so this is a large step up for me.

Do you have a recommendation for calibrating an Imac?

steve

 

[Steve Sherrick]

It was kind of in jest. Same type of joke I heard a million times when building recording studios, we put all this effort into getting the best sound possible, then someone crushes it to a mp3 and listens on apple head phones

When I mean overboard, I mean, buying a $6K monitor when my skills are not on that level, if I had anything at that level I would send it out to be colored.

It should be noted that I have been editing on a 15" MBP Retina, so this is a large step up for me.

Do you have a recommendation for calibrating an Imac?

steve

Honestly because of the color managed app side of things, you really need to either just accept the iMac as is or as mentioned earlier, use a 3D LUT in the viewer settings of Resolve. Check out DispCal (it's free) and look into getting an i1 Display Pro 3 (under $300) to get started. Then if you get into it and want more accuracy look into Light Illusion and Calman.

As for the recording studio thing, I don't agree. My ears are not what they used to be, but I still feel I can tell a good recording from a bad one, even after being crunched down to MP3. Always start as high quality as possible and dumb it down when need be. But in your case, you don't need $6K monitor, but you may need $2K one if the iMac doesn't cut it.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

thanks guys again, just a joke trying to stay sane when selling preamps and mics for 10 years and trying to get the most out of my new Imac, if I didn't also buy a second unit rig and a 7" carbon fiber monitor I would probably be moving up to a separate display. At this point I am just happy to be off the laptop

steve

 

[Steve Sherrick]

thanks guys again, just a joke trying to stay sane when selling preamps and mics for 10 years and trying to get the most out of my new Imac, if I didn't also buy a second unit rig and a 7" carbon fiber monitor I would probably be moving up to a separate display. At this point I am just happy to be off the laptop

steve

The iMac isn't terrible. You'll probably be okay, especially after you use it for a while and get a feel for how things translate. And like you said, if a job calls for extravagant color hire a colorist. I'd prefer to do that anyway when budget allows.

 

[Anthony Berenato Jr]

Honestly, I used use a Spyder 5 Elite with some of my own settings for backlight and it's been translating very well between different mediums - including a DCP theater release. Every time I double check my calibration, my eyes are set ablaze with blue light when the calibration is turned off.

I'm sure other have more professional means, but I'm fairly happy right now. Just turn off the ambient light sensor. Backlight at 100, D6500, 2.2 Gamma, advanced grays.

 

[Steve DiMaggio]

Honestly, I used use a Spyder 5 Elite with some of my own settings for backlight and it's been translating very well between different mediums - including a DCP theater release. Every time I double check my calibration, my eyes are set ablaze with blue light when the calibration is turned off.

I'm sure other have more professional means, but I'm fairly happy right now. Just turn off the ambient light sensor. Backlight at 100, D6500, 2.2 Gamma, advanced grays.

thank you so much!

steve